Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to biosensing devices and methods, and more particularly to a superhydrophobic electrodes for detection and evaluation of molecular materials in suspension.
Description of the Related Art
Detection of ultra-low concentrations of biomolecules (e.g., DNA) is of interest for various applications in medicine, food safety and security. In highly diluted solutions, the sensor response time is limited by physical diffusion of the biomolecules to a sensor surface. One approach to overcome the diffusion limit is employing (super/ultra) hydrophobic sensor surfaces to facilitate the delivery of the biological molecules within a droplet disposed on a surface of the sensor by facilitating droplet evaporation. The approaches demonstrated to date; however, suffer from at least one or more of the following, (i) complex instrumentation, (ii) lack of scalability to small/portable sizes, (iii) non-label-free (barcode-based) detection, (iv) lack of statistical robustness due to single end-point detection, and/or (v) lack of compatibility with standard nanofabrication technology (e.g., lack of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology).